Border Patrol Seizes Phony Papers; 2 Held

Two men were arraigned in federal court in San Diego on Monday after Border Patrol agents seized 20,000 counterfeit immigration documents with an estimated street value of $10 million.

Antonio Hernandez Solorio, 45, a resident alien living in San Diego, and Aurelio Garcia Martinez, 38, a non-immigrant visitor from Tijuana, were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Edward Infante on charges of “possessing with intent to use or transfer unlawfully (counterfeit) immigration identification documents,” Border Patrol spokesman Ed Pyeatt said.

On Friday, agents raided two rented public storage compartments in the 2300 block of Main Street in Logan Heights, finding presses and other copying machinery and stacks of documents that could have aided countless numbers of undocumented aliens seeking to live legally in the United States, Pyeatt said.

“It’s an extraordinary find,” Pyeatt said. “We deal with these documents all the time, but it’s hard to break the actual operation.”

The Border Patrol’s last previous big seizure of counterfeit identification documents was four years ago, but Friday’s discovery was much larger, Pyeatt said.

Pyeatt said the papers could bring $150 to $500 each, depending on quality, and could be obtained through individuals smuggling undocumented aliens into the country.

Agents also found 9,000 phony Social Security cards and stacks of California birth certificates, Pyeatt said. No value has been assigned to those documents and the printing and reproduction equipment, he said.

“We’re extremely happy we have intercepted these 20,000 documents before they were in use, Pyeatt said. “This means a lot more of the aliens will have to come across the (legal) way.”

The investigation may involve state and federal authorities, and the two men are being held pending a detention hearing Thursday, Pyeatt said.